Showing posts with label Resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resolutions. Show all posts

Saturday, 1 January 2022

A Happy New Year to All!

Here in the BigRedBatCave we've had a busy Christmas and I've only managed a little modelling. However in the days before Christmas I finally managed to paint the walls and floor of my cellar storage space, which I hope you'll agree is looking pretty tidy. I only have around 5' 9" of headspace, but it will enable me to store a lot of minis, once I've fitted racking and sorted out the humidity.


Below is the "before".

My resolutions for 2022 - 

  • Finish and publish Renaissance
  • Finish and publish the playtest game, Ceresole 1544 and a secret associated project
  • Finish the Swiss army that has been in hibernation for a year.
  • Put on some banging games at shows
  • Catch up with everyone who I've missed in the last year or so!
I hope everyone is safe and well. I feel very optimistic about 2022. I feel the prospects for life and gaming are likely to be much better, for us, this year- let's hope than none of our cards are Aces! 

Friday, 3 January 2014

Thessalians, and plans for 2014

Here's a unit I finished last week. They are later Thessalian cavalry in a rhomboid formation, cantering across the Boeotian plain. Mate Nick Speller painted 6 of these Foundry Miniatures, and I painted 3 more to match, shield transfers, basing etc.


Thessalians often fought in a manoeuvrable rhomboid formation, that could easily change direction through 90 or 180 degrees.  Below, here they are brigaded with my previously-painted Thessalians, who will shortly be re-based in the same style. They'll mostly serve with my Ptolemaic army.


In terms of 2014, I hesitate to plan too far ahead, for as they say "no battle plan survives contact with the enemy". However, here's the first seven months loosely sketched out.  

January
  • Finish swan-necked trade ship “Ceres”
  • Finish and base a final unit of Late Romans
  • Finish and base two units of Shaun’s Goths
  • Finish two elements of Impetus-based Roman cavalry
  • Buy and build 5 large gaming boards

February to April
  • Paint  100 EI Roman Legionaries, finish and re-base 100 other EI Roman Legionaries
  • Finish and Base 12 British Auxiliary cavalry
  • Paint and base 6 Auxiliary cavalry
  • Finish and base remainder of the Impetus EIRs.

May
  • Pontoon Bridge and other terrain for possible Partizan game

June to July
  • Finish and base 200 more phalangites for possible Other Partizan game, and the Southern Autumn shows
In terms of resolutions, this year I only have one, which is to finish play-testing and publish my rules!

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

One last resolution...


...this is the sorry state of the floor in the gaming/dining room in the BigRedBatCave, as of this morning.  There are a mountain of gaming boards at the rear, debris from xmas and a couple of boxes of cider (why?).  Over the next few days, I plan to clear the lot!  Once clear, I'll hopefully be able to get some serious gaming underway, again.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

Resolutions for 2013

Following my plans for 2013, posted yesterday, here are my resolutions:-
  • I shall complete, play test and publish (probably on-line) the Ancients rule set I’ve been developing
  • I shall finish my Ptolemaic phalanx for the game at Partizan; ten units of 48 phalangites, one of 48 agema and peltasts, and 3 dozen Cretan archers.  At the time of writing I do not have a single, complete unit, although I have around 120 figures painted.  To achieve this, within the timescale, I recognise that I will need to get a couple of hundred part-painted for me...   and also the cavalry and nellies
  • I’ll buy the parts and paint the cloth for a deeper wargames table, probably 160cm (4’8””), which is about the widest table that my lounge can take, whilst simultaneously accommodating half a dozen gamers with expanding waistlines
  • Finally, I’ll improve on my woeful record of local gaming, and get some decent games under my belt, at least one every other week
Plenty to be doing, especially the Ptolemaics! 

Saturday, 29 December 2012

Plans for 2013



I thought it might be fun to look ahead and make some plans for 2013.

Next week, my first published magazine article, about basing, comes out in Wargames, Soldiers, Strategy; I'm very much looking forward to that!

The Society of Ancients Battleday on April 13th is an absolute must, as it features the interesting battle of Chalons.  Moreover, I don’t need to paint any miniatures (getting to use Simon MacDowell’s lovely 15s), and hope to play the patrician Aetius.  Moreover, my army will include a bunch of Riders of Rohan lookalikes and an ageing Gothic Prince with a death wish.

The next week, 20th April, is Salute, which I always enjoy!  I don’t currently have a game scheduled, and in any case prefer to wander about and catch up with mates, whilst trying to avoid spending any money (usually unsuccessfully).

My first big battle for 2013 will be the Partizan game, on 2nd June, which I’m organising with Craig Davey.  I’m recruiting a massive Ptolemaic pike phalanx for this, and need to get some nellies and cavalry painted for me, too.  It'll be a game to look out for... I suspect rather more 28mm pikes than have been seen together, previously, on a table.  In fact, if all the pikes were laid out in a line, they would stretch almost 100m.

Finally, in September, I’d like to go to the “Other Partizan”, and run something else, perhaps giving my Romans another outing; an excuse to finish another legion, or two.  Maybe Sulla's Chaeronea, or perhaps Thapsus.

I also hope to fit in a few other trips to shows, as time permits; I would welcome ideas for events not to be missed, and hope to catch up with more of you along the way!

Cheers, Simon

Friday, 28 December 2012

My wargaming year


Firstly, I'd like to hope that all my visitors have had a very happy Xmas!  In the BigRedBatCave, the turkey carcass is now picked almost clean, the pudding eaten, and my thoughts naturally return to gaming (if, indeed, they ever left it!).  Today I'm reminding myself what I did this year, and tomorrow, hopefully, formulating my plans for next year.

I'm a bit of a home lover.  Every time I ever do one of those personality tests at work, they come up saying “under no circumstances should his work ever involve travel”.  Despite this, one of my unwritten objectives for 2012 was to get around the country a bit more, and I’ve managed three wargaming trips to the "lead belt", and one to Suffolk.


On the first trip in March I visited Roger, and played an excellent game of Borodino (above), the only big Napoleonic wargame I’ve ever experienced.  I painted a lot of figures for this, which have sadly not been used since.  I’ve also failed to complete my planned cavalry brigade, largely due to not having any imminent plans for using in anger, and my napoleonic blog has been "resting".

In May I visited Salute.  I wasn't running a game, so had more time than usual to wander around, and catch up with old friends.  My favourite game was the Victrix 54mm Napoleonic bash, shown below, but, as ever, there were some lovely display games there.



May also marked my first visit (hopefully of very many) to Partizan, where I very much enjoyed re-fighting Heraclea (above) with Craig and The Aventines.  Fantastic armies!  I had so much fun, I went North for a second time in September, to re fight the battle of Ad Castores, using Dr Phil’s new Augustus to Aurelian rules, my Early Imperial Roman army and a great deal of simulated Italian vegetation.  Finally, in November, I visited Simon “Comitatus” MacDowell in his Suffolk fastness, and played a very enjoyable game of the Battle of Chalons, using his beautiful 15mm collection (below).  

 
Life on the home front has been somewhat difficult, with the sad loss of my father-in-law, with associated inquest, probate, will, house sale, flat purchase and move for my mother-in-law.  This, amongst other challenges, have badly disrupted my local gaming activities and consequently I’ve played fewer games this year than in any recent year.  I’ll need to sort that, in 2013.

On the plus side, I have managed a fair bit of painting, repainting and basing.  I completed 28 units, the majority of 24 infantry; perhaps 450 miniatures in total.  Altogether this is rather fewer miniatures than I had hoped, but they were mostly of excellent quality (the Goths, below, are a particular favourite of mine).  


In terms of my modelling objectives I partially achieved 2, completing most of my Napoleonic French cavalry Brigade, and most of what I planned for my Early Imperial Romans 60/60/60 project; now only short 150 legionaries.  I’ll need to revisit the Romans, at least, in the summer.  I completely failed to paint anything for Runequest, my third objective.  Despite the work, the lead mountain grew by an alarming 661 unpainted metal miniatures, and now boasts a substantial plastic foothill.  I also sold off my old Viking army which raised funds to offset some of my all-too-numerous eBay and other hobby purchases, and made a little space for my recent painting.

Tomorrow; looking ahead to 2013!

Sunday, 24 June 2012

BigRedBat’s Mid-Year Review

An astonishing 6 months has passed, in a blur, since my resolutions for 2012, so I though it a suitable time for a quick review of progress.


My main objective for 2012 was “for my Early Imperial Romans, what I'm calling my sixty/sixty/one:sixty programmme.  This will involve building up my EIR Romans up to sixty cohorts of 8 legionaries, and sixty auxiliary cohorts/alae of either 8 infantry or 6 cavalry, which (with Praetorians and rif-raf) will give me around 1150 EIR figures, enabling me to fight a medium-sized 69/70 AD Civil War battle, at 1:60 scale.”  This is going really quite well, although I didn’t start it until May.  I added my big unit of rioters after Salute, and an additional unit of Gallic Auxiliaries in June, and my first Ala is about to roll off the production line.  I anticipate I’ll have all the auxiliaries completed by mid-September.

I’ve just scheduled by first big outing for them for Partizan on 2nd September- I’ll be working on this game with a couple of mates, Dr. Phil Hendry and Craig Davey; more anon.  Toward said game I do need to finish a lot more troops- as many as 8 more units, so there is a furious two months of brushwork and basing, ahead!
 
My secondary project was to” finish my projected 100-man cavalry division, described on my other blog.  ...and after that, whatever I fancy of several infantry formations I have underway.  I'd like to think I'll have a complete infantry brigade by the end of March, and at least 2 more by the end of the year.”  I still haven’t quite finished the cavalry division (now just a question of basing the final regiment, and painting some horse artillery) , but I did churn out the equivalent of a couple of infantry brigades for RTB’s spectacular Petit Borodino game, back in April.  I really need a set of rules that I feel I can get behind...
My third resolution was “to paint a unit or two for Glorantha, which I've not really touched for 2 years.”  This is a complete fail, so far- will review this in September!

I've enjoyed my wargaming this year, than last.  We are gaming locally on almost a weekly basis, again, and I've very much enjoyed my occasional forays to the "lead belt", where it has been great to meet some people I've been chatting to on line for donkeys' years, in t'flesh.  Onwards and upwards!

Saturday, 24 December 2011

2012 Resolutions

Blimey, still Christmas Day (just) and I've already knocked my resolutions together.  I trust everyone had a great time... and got suitable presents.  I got a fantastic Napoleonic book, that I'll feature in another post, and the Osprey Campaign on the First Crusade.

In 2012 my primary project will be for my Early Imperial Romans, what I'm calling my sixty/sixty/one:sixty programme.  This will involve building up my EIR Romans up to sixty cohorts of 8 legionaries, and sixty auxiliary cohorts/alae of either 8 infantry or 6 cavalry, which (with Praetorians and rif-raf) will give me around 1150 EIR figures, enabling me to fight a medium-sized 69/70 AD civil War battle, at 1:60 scale. To achieve this, I'll need to buy/paint and base something like an additional 400 miniatures over the next year.
 
My secondary project will be my new Napoleonic habit; first I shall finish my projected 100-man cavalry division, described on my other blog.


...and after that, whatever I fancy of several infantry formations I have underway.  I'd like to think I'll have a complete infantry brigade by the end of March, and at least 2 more by the end of the year. 

My third resolution is to paint a unit or two for Glorantha, which I've not really touched for 2 years. In particular, I'm minded to paint the Agimori (tall, desert-dwelling pikemen) that I sculpted and drop-cast the best part of 5 years back (below).  They are pretty crude, but at 40mm tall they are almost literally men-and-a half.  Those pikes need to be able to stop a charging rhino...  I'd then like to do some more Praxian warfare, using Ian's bison and sable nomads, and my lunar war-triceratops and whatnot.  Perhaps I might even finish the long-delayed high-llamas that we needed as mounts for that tribe...

 

This year I must spend far less than last, and must sell some miniatures from non-core periods, to raise dosh and clear space (be very afraid, my Vikings and Assyrians...).  I do find selling stuff boring, when there are so many minis to paint and blog.  :-(

Finally, this year I shall game more regularly; perhaps not weekly, but at least every two weeks.

That's the lot!  If you have any resolutions, please do post a link in the comments, I'd love to see them.

Friday, 23 December 2011

2011 Review of my Modelling Year

First of all, I think this will be my last blog posting before the holidays, and I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Xmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year!

It's the time when I like to review last year's resolutions, and start to thnk about setting some new ones.  Last year I said:-

"I've given some more though to what I'm going to paint this year, after the French Indo China, Ancient Germans/Laager and Marian Romans that I've previously mentioned as Q1 objectives.  I've decided to concentrate on Early Imperial Romans, because:-
  • I have a lot of EIR units part painted, that I should be able to finish relatively quickly
  • I also have a huge amount of unpainted EIR lead so it will save me money
  • I really like EIRs and want to run a campaign; my favourite Roman text is Tacitus' Histories
  • They would look great for a big display game, in 2012
But will I be able to stick to my plan?"

The Q1 objectives were a mixed bag.  I did briefly paint some French Indo China stuff in January, although I failed (yet again) to complete the pesky  wagon laager which has not advanced on my to-do list since January 2009.  My Caesarians have crept slightly forward, with the addition of a rather splendid cohort and some lovely command figures, from Andres.

My main objective for the year, the Early Imperials, has been quite successful.  I completed my 240-man legion, and recently finished a smaller 80-man legion of ex-Marines.  I also added around 80 more auxiliaries (with a similar number out to painters).   However, there are still enough unpainted Romans left, to keep me very busy in 2012.  I also finished not one, but two cohorts of A&A Middle Imperial Romans and a half a dozen units of Late Imperial Romans.  In total I finished 22 units of ancients.  

A new period burst onto the scene for me in May- Napoleonics.  Recognising that this would become a very serious "habit", I started a new blog to document it, My Very Own Spanish Ulcer.  It does take away time I'd love to lavish on ancients, but it's good to be learning about a new historical period, and the uniforms are nice.  I miss shields, but there are still standards with eagles on!  I am very taken with the Perry and Victrix plastics.

The number of my unpainted miniatures only rose by 101 this year, due largely to fewer purchases and getting quite a lot painted.  I made a decision not to count unpainted Napoleonic plastic (which is just as well, as I must have rather more than a thousand of them!).  The new period (with a lot of purchases of painted figures) made this my most expensive wargaming year, ever, and I will cut back next year.

Right, I'm off to wrap the presents- have a good one, everyone!  

Cheers, Simon

Wednesday, 5 January 2011

Theme for 2011- Early Imperial Rome

I've given some more though to what I'm going to paint this year, after the French Indo China, Ancient Germans/Laager and Marian Romans that I've previously mentioned as Q1 objectives.  I've decided to concentrate on Early Imperial Romans, because:-

  • I have a lot of EIR units part painted, that I should be able to finish relatively quickly
  • I also have a huge amount of unpainted EIR lead so it will save me money
  • I really like EIRs and want to run a campaign; my favourite Roman text is Tacitus' Histories
  • They would look great for a big display game, in 2012
But will I be able to stick to my plan?

Friday, 1 January 2010

Resolutions Revisited

Last year's resolutions were to:-
  • 1. Finish the Pictish minis I promised myself I'd finish by the end of December, by the end of January. - I did manage this, bar a couple of standards; I really should take some photos.
  • 2. 2009 is declared "Year of the Early Imperial Roman Auxiliary"- I managed 3 units; a beginning; then I got diverted by the Zama project.
  • 3. ...except that I also have to finish the Celtic army- Which I more or less did but not the Wagon Laager, which would look rather stunning. 
  •  4. Develop a set of rules with Ian that enable me to use my 24-man units- Still thinking about these.  I did have a bright idea about them, only last week, that might help.
  • 5. Run a Roman Campaign- I did; it petered out around mid year, but I'll pick it up again.
  • 6. Buy less minis than I paint... LOL!- I only brought about 200 more than were painted (about 5-600, mostly by friends; thanks!) and spent far more than I had intended, or, indeed, can afford 
New resolutions for 2010:-
  • 1. Finish and deliver a stonking Zama game
  • 2. After that, 2010 is officially declared "Year of the Successor"; I need a couple of feet more phalanx, for a start!  And all those pretty Tarantine cavalry... and a whole circus full of elephants.
  • 3. Pick the Roman Campaign up again
  • 4. Develop the rules 4. above
  • 5. Prune purchases; paint lead mountain!
I'd like to wish a Very Happy and Successful New Year to all my Readers!

Saturday, 26 December 2009

Things to Do for Zama...

With Xmas out of the way, a man's mind turns to war!  We've a lot to do before April.  I'll return to this page and cross things through as they are completed.


Essential things I am doing for Zama
Base 48 Numidians
Repaint/base 32 Velites
Paint and base 20 Spanish skirmishers

Finish and base 48 Bruttians (24 done)
Base 3 more command stands
Base 9 Numidian bodyguards
Paint and decorate 8 terrain boards

Desirable things I am doing for Zama
Make, paint and decorate 2 decorative end boards
Paint 6 dead elephants (4 done)
Paint casualty minis


Things other people are completing for Zama

4 Roman legions plus cavalry (2 done)

128 Carthaginian veterans
24 Numidian cavalry
Paint 4 dead elephants
Paint 2 Numidian elephants
Make a dozen olive trees


After Zama
Paint lots of elephants
Paint a whopping great phalanx
Paint soem Etruscans and Volscians
Paint the wagon laager
Paint more Roman Auxilia
How I want some Tarantines...

It'll be a busy year!  (Updated 13/2/2010)

Monday, 6 July 2009

Resolutions; Six Month Review!

Inspired by Greg Privat, and by the "Year of Frugal Gaming" site, back at the end of last December I set myself some resolutions.

As von Molkte once said, "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy", and my resolutions have largely failed to survive contact with 2009. Reviewing them in turn:-

1. Finish the Pictish minis I promised myself I'd finish by the end of December, by the end of January. I managed to finish these by the end of February; a minor tactical defeat.
2. 2009 is declared "Year of the Early Imperial Roman Auxiliary" I've painted/based 48; less than half of what I want, but at least I am "over the top".
3. ...except that I also have to finish the Celtic army Which isn't exactly finished, but has got somewhat larger...
4. Develop a set of rules with Ian that enable me to use my 24-man units I've done some work on this, and although they are very very far from being finished I am contemplating a test game, perhaps as early as tomorrow
5. Run a Roman Campaign Abject defeat here; without the right set of rules, I've not been tempted to start one.
6. Buy less minis than I paint I was doing very well with this, but couldn't resist a couple of Foundry armies on eBay and currently have 130 more unpainted minis more than I had last year. However, in a normal year I'd probably be 500 up! So I'm conducting a fighting retreat. Mind you I have just bought another 24 on eBay, whilst writing this post. :-(
7. Collection must be cash-neutral in 2009 This is my most serious reverse; I'm afraid I've spent £920 so far this year on miniatures (although the trend is decreasing).
8. Take more photos! Now this one I have done! :-)

So... I'm sticking with the same resolutions; I'll replace 1. above with "Organise a big SOA Zama game for 2010", and 7. with "Don't spend more than £1K".

Sorted.

Sunday, 4 January 2009

More Resolutions

7. Collection must be cash-neutral in 2009 (I'm off to a bad start here, as it is only the 4th of Jan and I've spent over £100 so far).
8. Take more photos!

Wednesday, 31 December 2008

New Year Resolutiuons

1. Finish the Pictish minis I promised myself I'd finish by the end of December, by the end of January.
2. 2009 is declared "Year of the Early Imperial Roman Auxiliary"
3. ...except that I also have to finish the Celtic army
4. Develop a set of rules with Ian that enable me to use my 24-man units
5. Run a Roman Campaign
6. Buy less minis than I paint... LOL!

Happy New Year All! Simon